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"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in your joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."

***A Quote From The Velveteen Rabbit

Tuesday

So, everyone knows I'm a Macintosh fiend....It's just so easy to love Mac! And because I'm a total geek, I love talking about technology...Especially about why Apple computers rule. Reliability, ease of use, far fewer vulnerabilities, intuitiveness...These are only a few of the reasons I LOVE MAC, and why I've been a loyal supporter ever since OS X came out. I've grown so comfortable with my gear over the years, and honestly, this comfort has just developed naturally. I've never had anything unexpected happen.

However, every now and again, even I am surprised by just how amazing these computers truly are. For example, my first Mac was a titanium PowerBook G4, I had it on order, waiting for the release of OS X, several years ago. This was my introduction to an operating system other than Windows, my first laptop, and my god, did this computer take a beating!

**This is NOT the actual computer, but one just like it**

Not only was it my first Apple, it was dropped a few times, and I don't mean lightly...I mean, in the alley, completely unprotected, once, and another example is when it fell about 4 feet onto the hardwood floor...And landed where it's charger plugs in, while the charger was attached. This computer was also re-OS-ed AT LEAST 12 times in 5 years, dual booted Windows and OS X at one point, and Ubuntu and OS X at another, and was very rarely restarted let alone completely shut down. Then, there was the time I spilled a full to the brim wine glass of rosé in the keyboard...Just to mention a fraction of what this computer, (which, despite it's dents, scratches and the obvious fact that it's been well loved, still works like a charm) has been through. BTW, it was also on this computer that I learned SOME computers actually still operate, and function very well indeed, with literally NO room left on the hard drive. Apple computers FTW!

I recently (within the last 2 years) taught my roommate how to use a computer, and for his first computer I got him one of these, an iMac upgraded to OS X:

**Also, not the actual computer, but I have one just like it, and a teal one as well**

At 50 years of age, and technologically unaware of anything aside from how to use the remote control to operate the TV, it was a task to show him the ways of the computer age, let alone the innerwebz. But before long, with the help of Macintosh and the amazing OS X, he was ready to graduate to a bigger, better machine. So I happily moved my heavily upgraded Mac G4 Cube onto his desk and unleashed him. He's stoked!

**Super computer FTW..Even if it IS old, it's rad! And..Way to go Stitchy! Welcome to the future!**

Anyways, back to the main point. I mean, all this stuff is awesome, but not the reason I am writing this blog, none the less. So, the machine I currently use as my main computer is a 13-inch aluminum unibody MacBook Pro.

**Also, not my actual computer, but just like the JLB MBP**

Recently, it's been running a bit slow, and last night I finally decided to suck it up and do a few things to fix the issue. (There are a number of reasons I didn't do this right away, but that story is for another time.) And I realized something, a few things, actually, as I prepared to do a couple of things to make my beloved JLB MBP run a little more smoothly.

Brand new in either July or August of 2009, I have never emptied the trash....Ever. So, first things first, I decide to "Secure Empty Trash"....Only to find there were 168,567 things to be securely deleted. That would take forever, since everything is overwritten to the point that it becomes absolutely unrecoverable. "Empty Trash" is good enough for today, or at least for the initial round. That freed up just under 15 gig.

I also restarted my browsers, I'm always running at least 2, usually Chrome and Flock. Chrome seems to be cool so far, but Flock is built on Firefox, and I've found that that the longer Firefox is running, the more memory it eats up, so it needs to be restarted every now and again to alleviate that issue. I had neglected to restart Flock in quite some time, and after doing so, things are already running much more smoothly.

Ok, big deal so far, right? Maybe it is maybe it's not, however, the following fact is something I find quite remarkable..

Considering the number of hours I log on this thing, not to mention all the crazy stuff I'm always experimenting with, that's insane. Seriously! So, for me, this is a serious WIN for Apple. I <3 my Macs. Just sayin'.